Experts question civic body’s water collection methods

Experts in the city feel that the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has not been following the norms of collecting water before sending the samples to the laboratory to check for potability.

| TNN | Updated: Apr 30, 2014, 05:09 IST

AURANGABAD: Experts in the city feel that the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has not been following the norms of collecting water before sending the samples to the laboratory to check for potability. This, they said, may be resulting in false results and affecting the water supply in the city.
Experts said that the civic body does not follow the Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation (CPHEEO) guidelines of collecting water samples in sterilized bottles and submitting to the laboratory for tests only after de-chlorination.

As per the guidelines, the water samples collected for bacteriological examination should be first checked for chlorine content. If chlorine is found in the water sample, then crystals of sodium thiosulphate should be added to de-chlorinate the water. With this, the live organisms, if any, in the water will not be destroyed by chlorine between sample collection and its culture in the laboratory.

Milind Bembalkar, member of a committee formed following a high court directive, said "The AMC staff does not follow the technique and sends water samples for testing sans de-chlorination. When we asked the linemen, who demonstrated the water sample collection technique, whether they added sodium thiosulphate to de-chlorinate the samples before submitting to the laboratory, they said that nothing is added to the water."

He claimed, "As a result, even if bacterial organisms are present in the water samples, they are likely to be destroyed by the disinfecting action of chlorine. Thereby, the culture of the water sample will give a false result."

In 2012, a three-member committee was formed following directives from the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay high court to check water contamination in the city. The committee, which followed the (CPHEEO) guidelines while collecting the water, found that only one of the 16 samples collected was potable.

"The committee along with the representatives of the civic body had collected 16 water samples from public taps from areas that frequently complain of contaminated water supply. The samples were submitted to the Regional Public Health laboratory for examination. The reports revealed that only one of the 16 samples was fit for human consumption," said Bembalkar.

AMC executive engineer Hemant Kolhe, however, said that de-chlorination of water sample was not the civic body's job and it should be done by the lab officials. "We only collect the water samples and submit them to the Public Health laboratory for testing," he said.

Anand Sable, resident of Ramanagar in Kranti Chowk, said that their area has been facing the problem of contaminated water supply for years now. "We have complained to the authorities repeatedly but our pleas have fallen on deaf ears. The colony houses around 200 residents, many of whom frequently complain of water-borne diseases," he said.

Ramzan Khan, resident of Rehmaniyan colony, said, "The main issue is that the drainage and water supply pipeline run parallel to each other. Any breach in the pipeline leads to seepage of sewage with drinking water."

Even the member of statutory board, Vijay Diwan, complained of contaminated water supply in his area. "I have got jaundice after consuming contaminated water supplied by the AMC. I have complained many times, but the problem has not been resolved," he said.

Jayant Baride, who was part of the three-member committee, said that cases of water-borne diseases were regularly reported in the city. "The problem is that proper record of patients and their localities are not maintained. This makes it difficult to identify the disease outbreak and address the issue."

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